White House Mulls Biden-Xi Phone Call: Report

Washington is considering organizing a phone call between Biden and Xi, which would be the US leader’s second engagement with his Chinese counterpart since taking office in January, the newspaper said.

The Biden administration is also discussing a possible meeting between State Secretary Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Italy next week, Financial Times said.

The White House also tentatively discussed a possible visit of Blinken or US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to China to pave the way for a Biden-Xi summit on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ meeting in Rome in October.

During his first months in office, Biden repeatedly stated that he would take a patient approach toward Beijing, explaining this decision by the need to focus on the country’s internal situation and shoring up alliances.

Beijing, in turn, expected a positive change in Washington’s policy, with the change of power in Washington and Biden undoing an array of executive orders of his predecessor, Donald Trump. The countries’ relationship, however, has not seen much difference.

Earlier in June, Sullivan said that the White House was not planning a Biden-Xi meeting just yet but did not exclude the possibility of an exchange on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Source: Agencies